rowlock
UK /ˈɹʌlək/ · US /ˈɹoʊˌlɑk/ noun
Forms rowlocks rollick rollock rullock
- noun (nautical, chiefly UK) A usually U-shaped pivot attached to the gunwale (outrigger in a sport boat) of a boat that supports and guides an oar, and provides a fulcrum for rowing; an oarlock.
- noun A brick, for example in a course of brickwork, that is laid vertically with its tallest but slimmest side facing down, and its shortest face facing the outside of the wall (oriented so that it is taller than it is wide).
Synonyms
Etymology
An alteration, based on row, of earlier oarlock, from Old English ārlōc, equivalent to oar + lock.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A contrivance or arrangement serving as a fulcrum for an oar in rowing. It consists sometimes of a notch in the gunwale of a boat, sometimes of a pair of pins between which the oar rests on the edge of the gunwale, sometimes of a single pin passing through the oar, or of a metal fork or stirrup pivoted in the gunwale and suporting the oar.
Etymology [For oarlock; AS. *rloc, where the second part is skin to G. loch a hole, E. lock a fastening. See Oar, and Lock.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “rowlock”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details